We've heard from a number of Bees asking if we've noticed a change in the tone on the site lately.

As a lot of you guys know, we've been very careful to greatly limit the amount of moderation on Hellobee (unless there's a clear personal attack or a blatant violation of our community policies).  That's because we think it's important that there be a balance between support and a reality check.  We're not big believers in the "rainbow and unicorns" model, where every comment has to be positive.  Our vast preference is that there to be a balance between honesty and tact.

At the same time, we've been reluctant to use the standard model of administering web forums, where people report each other for violating our community policy and then a moderator/admin has to figure out what's going on and pass judgment. We've tried it on other sites...  but it's usually frustrating to everyone involved (and a quick path to burnout!). Plus people are always complaining about the decisions that moderators make... it's depressing for everyone involved.

So we've been brainstorming alternatives for a while now.  That's when we came up with a different approach: what if rather than have a top-down policing model, we had a decentralized model where everyone could administer their own experience.  Here's how it might work.

MUTE THREADS

Say that you find that someone is posting threads that are.... well, let's just say you feel that reading their posts is not a good use of your time.  What if you could click over to their profile, and click a MUTE THREADS link there.  Then when you go back to your main boards page, you wouldn't see any threads from that particular user.

BLOCK THREADS

Or on the flip side: say that someone out there seems to have it out for you, and is leaving nasty comments on your posts.  You could go over to their profile, and click a BLOCK YOUR THREADS link that would Block Your Threads from appearing on their main boards page.  That way, you're not getting flamed any more and the other user isn't getting bothered by your threads. The hope is that features like this could put admin power and control into everyone's hands. 

On that note: we dug into the reports of changing tone, figuring at first that the issue was probably that a few people were quibbling and debating the site into misery.  And while that was a factor, we also found that something else was going on too. 

What we found is that there are a few users on the site that are being targeted for bullying.  When a bullying target posts threads to the site, a few other users will start nitpicking and disagreeing with the OP no matter what they say.  The nasty comments are designed to drive the bullying targets off the site. It's been a pretty effective tactic over the past year: I'm sure you guys remember a few bees who have been driven off the site. That negativity has been a big factor in the shifting tone on the site lately.

In any case, our hope is that a Mute Thread and a Block Threads feature might help out on that front.  If someone's threads are bothering you, you could Mute their Threads from appearing on your boards.  And if someone is repeatedly bothering you in your threads, you could Block Your Threads from appearing on their boards. In that way, each user would be free to admin their own boards experience.

Before we build a Mute and Block Threads feature, we'd have to confirm that our message board platform could support such a feature.  But first, we thought we'd bounce the idea off of you guys.

Let us know what you think!